Harry Potter: Zodiac Signs Of The Villains

The Harry Potter world is one of the most fully imagined fantastic universes that’s ever been made. The characters seem to leap off of the page and screen, so it’s no wonder that both the heroes and the villains have amassed their own fan bases. It has to be said, though, that it’s often the villains who emerge as the most compelling characters, even if they are men and women capable of truly heinous acts of evil.

They also happen to be incredibly complex creations, and looking at them through the lens of the zodiac helps the reader and viewer come to a better, more sophisticated understanding of their motivations.

12 Aries – Dolores Umbridge

There are villains, and then there is Dolores Umbridge. Part of what makes her such an undeniably evil, and menacing, character is that she truly seems to have drunk her own Kool-Aid. She believes that what she is doing is right, and nothing, and no one, will convince her otherwise. Given that the ram is one of the more stubborn signs in the zodiac, it would make perfect sense that Umbridge would be one of them.

11 Taurus – Lucius Malfoy

Lucius Malfoy is a notorious snob, so obsessed with his family’s blood purity (and everyone else’s) that it leads him into some very foolhardy positions. However, deep down he’s a very sensible man, and he knows when to cut his losses and run. Like a good Taurus, he ultimately realizes that he cannot keep fighting for Voldemort and, along with his family, he flees (and ultimately manages to avoid being imprisoned in Azkaban). Leave it to the bull to know how to manage a crisis.

10 Gemini – Barty Crouch, Jr.

Everyone knows that Geminis tend to have two different personalities, and this is definitely true of Barty Crouch, Jr. From the moment that he appears he makes it clear that he’s not entirely well, and this is particularly evident in the way that he’s portrayed by David Tennant in the film version. What’s more, he literally has two personalities, since he spends the majority of the story cleverly disguised as Professor Moody, a ruse that fools basically everyone.

9 Cancer – Peter Pettigrew

In the annals of this story, there are few characters as reprehensible as Peter Pettigrew. It’s bad enough that he went into service to Voldemort. He also betrayed the very people that were supposed to be his friends, leading to the horrid death of Lily and James Potter and sending Sirius to prison in Azkaban. Thinking of him as a Cancer, however, one of the more selfish and self-centered of the zodiac signs, allows his nefarious deeds to make some sort of sense.

8 Leo – Voldemort

Voldemort is without a doubt one of the most compelling yet evil villains to have emerged from fantasy literature, and he really seems to have no sense of morality. For him, there is only power. It has to be said, though, that he has a powerful charisma that allows him to draw others to his banner, even when he makes it clear that he is going to commit all sorts of horrible genocide.

He manages to channel his Leo personality into a powerful dominance that makes him almost impossible to resist.

7 Virgo – Narcissa Malfoy

Narcissa Malfoy is one of the more interesting characters in the story. Though she is, of course, married to the cunning Lucius and mother to the vicious Draco, she also seems to have a softer side of her, one more in keeping with her cousin Sirius than her sister Bellatrix. However, she’s also a very sensible person (very much in keeping with a Virgo), which is what leads her to form a strange sort of alliance with Harry. She knows that she wants to save her son, and she’s not going to let anyone get in her way of doing so.

6 Libra – Draco

Like the other members of his family, Draco is a study in contradictions. While he’s obsessed with his own blood purity, there seems to be a more sensitive, more contemplative side of him that sits uneasily with those obsessions. However, as a Libra he seems to want to find some sort of balance between those two sides of his life and his mind, and the novels and films do a good job of showing his struggles to do so.

5 Scorpio – Bellatrix Lestrange

Oh, Bellatrix Lestrange. There is truly no other character quite like her, and she is definitely Lord Voldemort’s most faithful servant. She really does seem to take an extraordinary amount of joy and pleasure in inflicting as much harm and pain as possible. This is a woman, after all, who murdered her own cousin Sirius. This puts her firmly in line with the Scorpio, because everyone knows that this particular zodiac sign also has a propensity for hurting others, very often for their own joy more than for any other reason.

4 Sagittarius – Fenrir Greyback

Fenrir Greyback is one of the most unpleasant villains to emerge out of this universe. How else would one describe a werewolf that goes out of his way to infect others with his own disorder? The films and novels show again and again that he is an incredibly unstable character, and an uncertain ally at best (since he seems obsessed with his own purposes rather than an overall alliance). These are all textbook traits of the Sagittarius.

3 Capricorn – Vernon

Though not as straightforwardly evil as some of the magical people that appear in this series, Vernon is still a pretty unpleasant person, and he seems to go out of his way to make Harry’s life miserable. He’s very much an earth sign, and he doesn’t like anything, or anyone, that poses even the slightest challenge to his very ordered and logical way of looking at the world.

And, like a Capricorn, he is notoriously stubborn, unyielding, and belligerent.

2 Aquarius – Quirrell

It’s hard to know what to make of Quirrell, since so much of his personality is clearly inflected by having been possessed by the spirit of Voldemort. What the reader and viewer gets to know of him, however, suggests that he’s the sort of Aquarius personality that’s a bit out there, a bit of an enigma, a bit in his own world. Perhaps it’s this sort of detachment and not-quite-thereness that allowed him to fall into the snare of Voldemort.

1 Pisces – Aunt Petunia

Like so many of the villains in this story, Aunt Petunia is a bit more complicated than she appears at first blush. While she clearly doesn’t hate Harry like Vernon does, she clearly bears him a lot of resentment, just as she did for her sister (his mother). This is a very Pisces thing to do, for while they can be very loving and affectionate (as Petunia is to Dudley), they can also nurse a grudge to such an extent that it mars their own personal happiness.

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